The invention relates to a connector for connecting horizontal members with vertical members of shelves, cabinets and other furniture items.
In versions of constructed furniture already known, one can differentiate shelf and box type cabinets into those with constructed or structurally attached floors and those with laid or connector or loosely coupled floors. The constructed floors are firmly connected with the walls of the shelf or of the cabinet. Dowel joints are a major case in point. A constructed floor is thus a support element of the concerned body, which is able to support not only vertical loads but also forces or force components acting in the plane extending outward from the corresponding floor.
Laid floors are supported in the vertical direction on the said floor bearings or connectors. As a rule, the floor bearings have a firm joint either with only the shelf or cabinet wall, such as a bolted joint, or they are joined firmly with the relevant floor, with shape lock elements being present on the floor and on the floor bearings, which can interlock with each other. Typically there is then a loose joint, either on the shelf or cabinet wall or on the laid floor, in the direction of the plane extending from the floor.
In special cases, an interlocking joint for the floor bearing has often been used on the wall of the shelf or box cabinet as well as on the laid floors. However, it does not offer the rigidity achieved between constructed floors and the shelf or cabinet walls. The main reason for this is that the interlocking elements did not have adequate dimensions at the two joining points, i.e. between the concerned wall and the floor bearing on one hand and the floor bearing and the floor on the other, and additionally they required handling and/or special installation that was not practical.
The invention includes an arrangement for connecting horizontal floors and vertical walls of shelving or box cabinets in the assembled condition, in which the floor bearings can be connected, in an interlocking manner, in the direction of the plane extending from the relevant floor, with the concerned wall as well as with the relevant floor. In particular, the present invention is useful with floors and walls that consist of wooden support material, specifically particleboard, which is common in shelving and box cabinets.
It is the purpose of the invention to create such an arrangement for connecting floors, which are horizontal in arrangement and assembly, with walls which are vertical in arrangement and assembly, of shelves and box cabinets, where the floor bearings or connectors have a secure hold in the edge areas of the floor and where they can be fixed permanently on the shelf and box cabinet wall, with easy handling made possible as long as the floor is not supported on the floor bearing. Further, the invention provides a solution for the task where the floor, which is set up on the floor bearing, which can be available as a laid floor, is secured on the concerned wall in such a manner that high force can be transmitted in the horizontal direction, i.e. the direction of the plane extending from the floor or from the walls to the floor, in the same way as in a constructed floor. This is important above all for such shelves and box cabinets, which the end user buys in components as the so-called xe2x80x9cDo-it-yourselfxe2x80x9d item and must reconstruct it at home without expert help.
As a solution for the said task, the connecting bearings or connectors of the present invention have a plastic body having the contours of a beveled cylinder with one side flat and parallel to the cylinder axis of the connector. Further, the floors have holes, countersunk from the underside of the floor, at connecting points on the edge to fit the plastic body of such a connecting bearing. The shape of the holes is the negative profile of the plastic body of the floor bearing. These holes have an opening corresponding to the flattening of the floor bearing at those narrow surfaces of the respective floor in contact with the wall to be joined.
The floor bearings also have pins on their plastic body near their top end, projecting vertically above its flat surface in a radial direction and perpendicular to the cylinder axis of the connector. The vertical walls have holes at their connecting points to accept these pins on the floor bearing. There is a through hole in the plastic body of the bearings below the pin and parallel to it. A securing screw can be threaded into the hole, tapping into the material of the vertical wall, beneath the hole which receives the pin of the floor bearing.
It is important for the invention that the concerned floor bearing be set flush against the relevant wall of the shelving or box cabinet due to the flat surface of its plastic body, whereby the pin inserted in the pertinent hole of the wall is primarily provided to take up the load for the plastic body of the floor bearing, and the securing screw cutting into the material of the vertical wall parallel to it ensures a solid connection between the flat surface of the bearing and the wall. The double fastening prevents any torsion in the floor bearing, particularly around its plastic body. On the other hand, the dimensions of the plastic body can be kept sufficiently large in its cylindrical, non-flattened area, which also applies to the hole matching it in its negative profile, which is countersunk from the underside at the connecting points on the edge in every floor. It is thus possible to transmit large horizontal forces between the floor and the relevant wall, even though the walls and the floors consist of a wooden carrier material, which typically does not display characteristics of great stability.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the pin on the floor bearings is a steel pin, which is permanently cast in the plastic material of the plastic body of the floor bearings. With the pin positioned horizontally, the load is primarily vertical, and the pin can withstand high shearing forces due to the execution in steel.
To avoid disturbing projections in the areas where the securing screws are inserted in the plastic body of the floor bearings, the through hole provided in the plastic body has, at its end facing the flat face, a countersunk, beveled chamfer for accepting the securing screw. The securing screw is accordingly designed as a countersunk screw to allow it to drop into the bevel on the through hole in the plastic body.
In another advantageous version according to the invention, the plastic body of the floor bearing has a radially projecting collar at its lower end along its circular peripheral section to reach over the circular edge of the open holes on the underside of the floors. This creates a support for the floors, which reaches under the floors, thus utilizing the entire thickness of the floors for their load capacity in the area of the floor bearing. The floor holes can thus have a depth in the axial direction, as seen from the underside, which is greater than the height of the plastic bodies of the floor bearings above the collar projecting on it. The load, in this version, is taken up only through the projecting collar at the lower end of the plastic body of the floor bearings.